The Negative Impact of Social Media on Students’ Self Esteem

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume II, Issue XII, December 2018 | ISSN 2454–6186

The Negative Impact of Social Media on Students’ Self Esteem

M.F. Adilah¹, Z.M. Lukman², C.Azlini³, R.Normala⁴, M.Y. Kamal⁵

^1,2,3,4,5Faculty of Applied Social Science, University Sultan Zainal Abidin, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia

Abstract— Nowadays, social media has influenced in every aspect of teenagers’ life; either by uploading photos on Instagram, expressing feelings on Twitter or deliberately triggering phenomenon on Facebook. But do social media make the teenagers consider about themselves? How do they feel? Whether it affects their mental and physical or leads to their low self-esteem? Due to the concerns, it is necessary to examine whether the use of social media influences their level of self-esteem. This paper aims to examine the negative impact of social media on the self-esteem of the secondary school students.This study was conducted in the area of Seberang Perai, Pulau Pinang. The researcher took three months to obtain the findings which are between August and October.The questionnaire was distributed to 305 students (130 males and 175 females). Data were collected and analyzed using the simple percentage method.The findings show that secondary school students will be distressed if they do not receive the desired ‘likes’ by their followers after they uploaded their pictures. The students disagree that they will take a positive attitude towards themselves. Majority of the students agree that they are uncomfortable with themselves at certain times and this leads them to think that they are not good at all.From the study conducted, it can be concluded that majority of the students have low self-esteem when uploading pictures, writing status and sharing videos on social media. They tend to feel uneasy if they do not receive the ‘likes’ for their postings on social media. The students also denied that they would take a positive attitude towards themselves when receiving negative comments from the followers. Due to this matter, they feel that they do not have a good impression of the public. After all, it can be deduced that the use of social media leads to the students’ low self-esteem.

Keywords— Social Media, Self-Esteem, Secondary School Student; Attitude, Malaysia

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